Beginner MQL4 question: orders | Forex Factory

Options

Permalinks
Print Thread

Similar Threads

Quick beginner MQL4 question: Pending vs Placed trades 3 replies

MQL4 Language Most Recent Version is it updated beyond the tutorial on the mql4 websi 6 replies

beginner question about news 6 replies

Beginner question about MT4 and trading in General. 4 replies

Beginner MQL4 question: orders

  • #1
  • First Post: Dec 22, 2010 8:41am Dec 22, 2010 8:41am
Total beginner question but I'm struggling to figure it out:

Based on an IF statement my EA must open a new order (with fixed TP and SL levels) if the conditions are met and if there is no existing trade.

If the conditions are met I send the following:

OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_SELL,0.1,Ask,3,Ask+SLpips*Point,Ask-TPpips*Point);

My TP or SL will close the trade automatically. How do I code so that my EA now only opens a new position after this trade either hit SL or TP?
  • #2
  • Dec 22, 2010 10:49am Dec 22, 2010 10:49am
This should get you started.

Assuming your EA makes use of magic numbers. and EA_MAGIC_NUM is the variable that stores the magic number value.

you must first check if there's currently a trade opened with the magic number defined. if yes, no trades to be opened.

Next you need to cater for scenarios where the trade opened and closed in the same candle. you wouldn't want the EA to open a trade again even though the buy/sell signal is probably still there cos it's after all a dead signal. You do this by checking the order history for any trade that is opened after the current candle start time. If found, that means the current candle had triggered a trade and that trade has closed (either in profit or in loss) so don't open a trade for this candle again.

The code below shows you how this can be achieved.

Inserted Code
bool TradeNotPlacedYet()
{
   int total = OrdersTotal();
   if (total > 0)
   {
      for(int cnt=total-1;cnt>=0;cnt--)
      {
         if(OrderSelect(cnt,SELECT_BY_POS))
         {
            if(OrderSymbol()==Symbol() && OrderMagicNumber() == EA_MAGIC_NUM)
            {
               return (false);
            }
         }
      }
   }
   int histotal = OrdersHistoryTotal();
   if (histotal > 0)
   {
      for(cnt=histotal-1;cnt>=0;cnt--)
      {
         if(OrderSelect(cnt,SELECT_BY_POS,MODE_HISTORY))
         {
            if(OrderSymbol()==Symbol() && OrderMagicNumber() == EA_MAGIC_NUM)
            {
               if (OrderOpenTime() >= Time[0])
               {
                  return (false);
               }
            }
         }
      }
   }
   return (true);
}

so with that, you can have your start() method be something like this

Inserted Code
int start()
{
   if(BuySignalTriggered() && TradeNotPlacedYet())
   {
         OpenBuyOrder();
   }
   if(SellSignalTriggered() && TradeNotPlacedYet())
   {
         OpenSellOrder();
   }   
//----
   return(0);
}
Programming for a better future.
  • #3
  • Dec 22, 2010 12:19pm Dec 22, 2010 12:19pm
Quoting pasopvirpot
Total beginner question but I'm struggling to figure it out:

Based on an IF statement my EA must open a new order (with fixed TP and SL levels) if the conditions are met and if there is no existing trade.

If the conditions are met I send the following:

OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_SELL,0.1,Ask,3,Ask+SLpips*Point,Ask-TPpips*Point);

My TP or SL will close the trade automatically. How do I code so that my EA now only opens a new position after this trade either hit SL or TP?
If your going to perform an "OP_SELL" then I believe you meant to use the Bid price since your shorting.

it sounds like your confused about how "if" statements work?

you need to learn the expressions for logical operations..

like && means "and"
!= means "does not equal"

remember = means "get" and == means "equal"

< "less than"
<= "less than or equal to"

etc. etc.

so operators which include "if, if-else, else, for, while, switch" you can use logical operations

EXAMPLE:

so say we have two variable one is called "conditions", and another called "openTrades".

string conditions = "not met"

string openTrades = "none"

if(conditions == "met" && openTrades == "none"){
//send the other blah blah....
}
else{
//wait till condition met etc etc...
}
  • #4
  • Last Post: Dec 22, 2010 12:34pm Dec 22, 2010 12:34pm
"How do I code so that my EA now only opens a new position after this trade either hit SL or TP?"


it sounds like for the type of EA your writing you only have 1 trade open at a time so to only have it open a trade after the trade hits SL or TP.. same thing as if there are no open trades right?

so when you place an order your could record the order number for example..

int orderNumber;

orderNumber = OrderSend(all your info..);

now "orderNumber" has your order number.. (you will want to use a global variable ofcourse (aka left outside of any functions...)


then.. to find out if your order is closed.. use OrderSelect to pull up your order number using variable orderNumber

and use OrderCloseTime() to see if close time != 0 .. open orders have a close time of 0 since they are still open..

refer to help section to see the functions



PS: it helps to know programming ofcourse.. theses are all core programming concepts that work with any computer language.. syntax is the only difference.. once your know programming you can program anything given some minor syntax variations


best wishes!
0 traders viewing now